Phil Kessel realizes now that he “probably” should not have swung his stick a second time at Buffalo’s John Scott during Sunday’s Leafs-Sabres brawl.

“It happened so quick, you can slow it down and that makes it look worse. . . . Obviously I shouldn’t have done the second whack. But it happened so fast, you react,” Kessel said Wednesday after the NHL slapped a three-game suspension on him prior to Tuesday’s game against Ottawa.

Scott, a behemoth who is the largest enforcer in the league and dwarfs Kessel, admitted he challenged the Leafs’ sniper to a scrap following a previous fight during Sunday’s game.

The mismatch prompted Kessel to swing his stick at Scott. A melee followed — Leafs David Clarkson left the Leafs bench to join the brawl — and Kessel wound up swinging his stick at Scott a second time, then jabbing him with his stick in the mid-section.

Kessel was suspended for the remaining three pre-season games while Clarkson was penalized the first ten games of the regular season.

“Obviously it was a difficult situation, and you’re nervous going into it,” Kessel said of his phone call with the NHL.

“But I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do in a situation like that. I shouldn’t have done the second whack. Looking at it it’s uncalled for, but I don’t know what else I was supposed to do.”

The brawl continues to draw viral interest in social media; fans and media alike have criticized Kessel for his stick swinging.

“If they get put in that situation, see what they do. I think a lot of people can criticize that, but let’s see what they do against a guy like that,” Kessel said of Scott, who is listed at 6-foot-8, 270 pounds.

Kessel, though, felt somewhat fortunate his suspension was light in comparison to Clarkson.

“Obviously, it’s never good to get suspended but it happened, you gotta move on.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.